(Rabbi Weissmandel, who lived in Prague some 50 years ago, encountered an interesting state of affairs regarding the sequence of letters as he read the Qur’an. He discovered the word ‘Torah’ encoded at 50-letter intervals at the beginning of the Book of Genesis. Forty years afterward, Dr. Eliyahu Rips, a teacher of mathematical statistics at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, discovered the name 'Aaron' encoded many times and could easily be read by skipping letters between the lines in the book of Leviticus. Calculations of probability revealed that the number was too great to be coincidental, and ushered in a new beginning for investigation of the codes in the Torah.)

Aaron. The Freemasons also concentrate a lot on Aaron. Kabbalists also concentrate a lot on Aaron. When they came here to that meeting at the palace, Madonna was on my right and her children next to me. They opened the Torah there, to the parables of Aaron.

(In response to a mail from a viewer saying; “An agnostic brother of ours who does not believe in Islam thinks that because the Holy Qur’an says that a thief should have his hand cut off is, may Allah forbid, barbaric, that this cannot be Allah’s command and that people fabricated it themselves. Could you shed some light on that?”)

What does stealing mean? You first have to define what a thief is. What the Qur’an is referring to is someone who has made stealing his profession. Second, all people’s needs are met in the Qur’an. I mean, there is no reason to steal. That person can take something when he needs it. Islamic society meets that need. He has no need of anything. If he needs a home, that need will be met. If he needs clothes, that need will be met. He needs nothing. Any needs he has will be met. It is impossible in practical terms to steal. If he is ill, then there is no punishment for that. But if he does it solely out of malice, out of wickedness, then Allah has issued such a commandment as a deterrent, but there still have to be witnesses for that to be enforced. It depends on a complaint being raised. Because Islam is based on the idea of forgiveness, Allah tells us to forgive and command what is good and forbid bad. It is a deterrent punishment.

“As for thieves, both male and female,” people who make a habit of stealing. !...cut off their hands in reprisal for what they have done: an object lesson from Allah. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat al-Ma’ida, 38)

But the next verse says, “But if anyone makes repentance after his wrongdoing and puts things right, Allah will turn towards him. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Ma’ida, 39) Allah immediately speaks of repentance and forgiveness. There is no theft if nobody complains. “All right, I forgive them,” you say. Are you not a Muslim? In that case you must say, “I forgive them.”